Posted by RealMe on October 28, 2007, at 9:28:12
In reply to Re: therapy tomorrow; will take the risk head-on, posted by rskontos on October 27, 2007, at 10:47:37
Yes; dissociation can cause lose of access to memory. Whether one is ever able to access the memory depends on the age of the person when they started to dissoicate. So, very young, probably won't access the memories on a verbal level, but maybe yes on a nonverbal level. Later in childhood, dissociated memories can be accessed eventually with therapy and is a very difficult time in therapy--some people but not all need the hospital for a brief time when this occurs.
Memory loss due to brain damage is different. It is not likely to ever return. I have long term memories that are coming back (from ECT) and so they were never gone. I just couldn't access them, but with hints and other people saying things about past events, I can start to remember.
The memory problems I have now have to do with reading or hearing about something new, processing it, and storing it into memory. The new memories are just not getting processes and stored. I am going to look into how I might facilitate that happening if it is possible. I am not sure it is possible beyond what I do now which is to try my best to journal every day, even about mundane things. If I don't do this with therapy for sure, then it is gone from session to session even though we meet twice per week. I also look at my appointments for the day to see who I saw. Conversations are the worst,though, as my husband gets angry with me when I say I forgot something he told me the day before or maybe even earlier that day. No matter how many times I repeat something over and over in my head, it is gone if I don't write it down right away.
RealMe
poster:RealMe
thread:791461
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20071022/msgs/791918.html